Chinese embassy in Finland releases animation videos offering valuable traveling tips

Chinese embassy in Finland released a series of animation videos on Wednesday as a preventive protection for the increasing number of Chinese travelers to Finland.

Comprising four episodes -- "Arriving at the Airport", "A Glimpse into Finland", "Expanding Your Understanding" and "Endless Aftertastes", each of the video lasts five or six minutes, and provides general knowledge about Finnish formalities, regulations, customs and habits, local emergency calls and consular help numbers.

Statistics showed that Chinese travelers spent nearly 300,000 overnights in Finland in the first three quarters of 2017, almost 40 percent more than the same period last year. The growth was the highest among all foreigners visiting Finland.

Meanwhile, Chinese tourists have encountered some problems in the Nordic country, which made the Chinese diplomats thinking of producing a digital guide book to provide necessary information before they get into trouble, said Chinese Ambassador to Finland Chen Li.

"Of course we are not a tourist agency and we don't want to compete with Lonely Planet," said Chen, "but we want to make sure the Chinese don't feel lonely during their journeys in Finland."

According to the embassy, the video series was already ready for watching and downloading at its official website and its Wechat account, and it would also be distributed by VisitFinland, Finnair and Finavia, all of which are government owned operators in Finland.

Paavo Virkkunen, head of VisitFinland, said he was happy with the growing trend of Chinese tourists coming to Finland. He said he has spotted a structural change in the market as Chinese tourists used to travel in a group, but now individual tourists were growing very rapidly.